An Bord Snip recommends 17,300 public-service job cuts

An Bord Snip has recommended swingeing cuts of 17,300 jobs in the public sector.

The recommendation is certain to raise the hackles of public service workers' representatives, who already today threatened industrial action, including strike, if public service workers were again targeted for cuts by the Government.

The Department of Education and Science should see the greatest number of cuts, the board recommends, and says 6,930 jobs could go in that department, adding there is room for cuts of 6,168 in the Department of Health and for 1,140 in the Department of Agriculture.